Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

The Latter Rain Movement

part of the resulting spiritual chain reaction that awakened multitudes in the United States and abroad. "Pentecostalism," observes Richard Riss, "eventually became one of the most potent and numerically significant Christian movements of the twentieth century." 4 This movement brought back to the Church a strong emphasis on the activity of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts, and it brought into existence hundreds of religious organizations and denominations worldwide. Many of these groups have become some of the fastest-growing religious bodies in the world. The second great reawakening is not so clearly defined as the first. This mid-century revival, occurring shortly after the close of the second World War, saw the rise to prominence of such evangelists as Billy Graham and Oral Roberts. It had its beginnings among the Pentecostals with the heal ing and Latter Rain movements in 1947 and 1948. This whole period could be described as the confluence of several religious rivers-evangel ical evangelism, Pentecostal mass healing revivals and the uniquely prophetic Latter Rain movement. 5 These concurrent activities yielded a tremendous number of conversions and reawakenings throughout Amer ica and the entire world. The third reawakening occurred in the 1960s and early '70s as three new expressions of God's grace appeared: • The charismatic renewal, breaking on the religious scene with mighty force and invading the mainline denominations • The Jesus movement, originating in San Francisco and bringing Christ to untold numbers of young adults, who in turn brought a fresh, new approach to staid Christianity • Evangelicalism, making a noticeable impact on American life through campus revivals, Campus Crusade and great evangelistic crusades Now we turn our focus to the Latter Rain movement, an unusual awak ening of the mid-twentieth century that placed a heavy emphasis on prophecy and spiritual gifts.

A Great Visitation of the Spirit

Like the stable at Bethlehem, the small orphanage and agricultural Bible college in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, called "Sharon Orphanage and Schools," set the stage for the humble beginnings of a spiritual movement that would reach around the world. Many Pentecostal 289.